Opinion: Space Empires V

[mikeck]

I have been playing moo3 and enjoying it but while poking around for answers to Moo3 questions, I saw several discussions on Space Empires V. Seems very comes and deep but I seem to remember people had issues with it...can the problems be solved with mods?

Worth picking up?

[Nefaro]

IIRC it ran at about 1 frame per second on WinVista & Win7 last I heard.

[airboy]

I hated it.  You no longer have tactical control of your ships during battle.  Space Empires 4 is excellent - try it instead.

[mikeck]

I don't care about control in tactical battles so much. I want complex design. I had read that with the balance mod, Ai in v was better? Also that with ship design elements it was more complex than 4?

I don't have a dog in the fight and I can pick up both. Just don't want to waste valuable game time

[Huw the Poo]

SE5 is absolutely fine as-is in my opinion, and reportedly even better with the balance mod.  However I have been unable to get it working on Win7-64.

SE4 is just as deep and, although the graphics are obviously older, just as capable of scratching the itch.  I vote for SE4 - fantastic game.

[mikeck]

Ok, well I think the only way to solve this is to buy both...I think there is a bundle for like $10 or something

[OJsDad]

Mikeck,

   I picked up a copy of SE5 and it included a copy of SE4.  You may want to look and see if you can find a copy like that, get both for the price of one.

[Huw the Poo]

Mike, you're not going to regret it.  If you want deep and absorbing, you've got it!

Lookie here for a good community and collection of resources. :)

[Tamas]

You can find more information about Space Empires V in the dictionary, under "Tedious Interface"

[Huw the Poo]

You can find more information about Space Empires V in the dictionary, under "Tedious Interface"

Ever play Dominions 3? ;)

[Nefaro]

You can find more information about Space Empires V in the dictionary, under "Tedious Interface"

Ever play Dominions 3? ;)

I don't think Dom 3's interface is terrible.  It's not great, sure, but not something I'd refer to as being a fine example of horrid UI either.

[mikeck]

Ok, tried both for a few minutes. SeV ran ok with one problem. To avoid screen flickering you have to run it in window mode....and the window only takes up about half my screen. Very annoying. Someone said you could edit the HUD settings file, but the lines they said to edit weren't in my file (the post was 5 years old)
Anyway, I didn't care for the graphics. It's not that they were bad...just "cartoony"

So then I tried SE IV and I like it much better. Graphics are actually better I think...even in 2D. It runs in full widescreen and generally looks a lot better. So, I will be going with SE IV I think.

Now I know there are a ton of mods...but is there a SE iV equivalent of the "tropical " mod? An all inclusive "must have"??

[SgtRock]

You'll die of old age before ever finishing a game, suffers 4X big game issues of fun at first, boring in the middle stage and completely unmanageable near the end.

[mikeck]

Well that's what mods are for!

Second, I've never finished a 4x in my life. Once I get to the point where I know I am going to win, I start over.

C'mon man....it's Friday, don't rain on my parade

[sandman2575]

Giving up on MoO3, mikeck?   Say it ain't so.  I was just about to jump in, although I'm still a little unwilling to deal with a complex install / patching process.

If I can sneak in a question -- do you need both the official game patches *and* Tropical mod, or does Tropical cover everything?

I have Space Empires IV sitting on the desktop, as well as a dozen other space 4x titles, giving me the 'oh why won't you play us?' look.  Not sure, but just haven't been able to muster the enthusiasm to play SE4.  I keep hoping to find the 'perfect' space 4x but never seem satisfied.  Could MoO3 be it? That's what I'm wondering at the moment...